Heroes and Zeroes: Padres 3, Marlins 1

Heroes and Zeroes is a series of articles where I use the Wins Probability Added (WPA) metric available at www.fangraphs.com as a starting point in rating all the players daily performance in every given game. Pitching, hitting, baserunning, and defense are all counted toward a players' total in this modified metric. Players are ranked from the most positive WPA to the most negative.

Heroes

Yonder Alonso (SD) .188

Alonso batted second and manned first base for the Padres, flying out to centerfield for the second out of the first inning (-1.4%). He grounded out to second for the second out of the third (-1.6%), gave the Padres a 2-1 lead with a long solo home run to right field with two outs in the fifth (+20.2%), and ended San Diego's seventh inning by flying out to left (-0.3%).

Brett Wallace (SD) .181

Wallace, batting fifth and playing the hot corner for San Diego, grounded out 4-3 in his first plate appearance for the second out of the second (-1.5%). He led off the fourth inning with a solo home run to tie the game at one run apiece (+17.4%) and singled to right to lead off the sixth (+1.5%),

Matt Kemp (SD) .144

Kemp played in right field and batted third for the Friars. He flew out to right to end the first inning (-0.9%), doubled to left with two out in the third (+2.9%), and hit a solo home run one pitch after Alonso's round tripper with two out in the fifth to make it 3-1 (+12.4%). He struck out to open the eighth inning (-0.3%).

Almost Heroes

Justin Bour (MIA) .123

Derek Norris (SD) .046

Cole Gillespie (MIA) .045

Donovan Solano (MIA) .043

Joaquin Benoit (SD) .043

Michael Morse (MIA) .032

Craig Kimbrel (SD) .030

Derek Dietrich (MIA) .024

Jedd Gyorko (SD) .023

Minimal Impact

Clint Barmes (SD) .015

Andrew Cashner (SD) .014

Brad Hand (MIA) .012

Bryan Morris (MIA) .007

JT Realmuto (MIA) .000

Abraham Almonte (SD) -.006

Almost Zeroes

Martin Prado (MIA) -.038

Melvin Upton (SD) -.040

Christian Yelich (MIA) -.044

Alexi Amarista (SD) -.067

Justin Upton (SD) -.069

Jeff Mathis (MIA) -.072

Ichiro! Suzuki (MIA) -.086

Zeroes

Casey McGehee (MIA) -.092

McGehee batted fifth for the Marlins and manned third base. He flew out to end the first with a man on second (-2.7%), hit a two-out double to center field in the fourth (+2.2%), then struck out with runners on the corners to end the sixth inning (-6.0%). Later, he ended the Marlins' eighth with a runner on first by grounding out, 4-3 (-2.7%).

Adeiny Hechavarria (MIA) -.121

Hechavarria, back in the eighth spot at his customary shortstop position, made a few great defensive plays, but earned the second zero of the night for his performance at the plate. He struck out to close the second (-0.8%), hit into a 5-3 groundout for the second out of the fifth (-1.8%), then grounded back to the pitcher with a man on third in the seventh inning, failing to get Gillespie home and making the second out (-7.0%). In the ninth, he struck out with a man on first for the second out of the inning (-3.7%).

Dan Haren (MIA) -.335

Haren stands alone at the bottom for this game. He pitched six innings and allowed eight hits. He didn't walk anybody and struck out three batters, but gave up three earned runs on three solo home runs.

Best and Worst

San Diego's worst play of the night was Andrew Cashner's bases loaded strikeout in the second inning (-8.9%), which contributed to his not having appeared amongst the heroes.

The Padres best, as already mentioned, was Yonder Alonso's solo shot with two out in the fifth which made the score 2-1 in favor of San Diego (+20.2%).

Miami's worst play of the night was Adeiny Hechavarria's one-out comebacker to the pitcher with a man on third in the seventh (-7.0%).

The best play for the Marlins was Justin Bour's RBI double to right field with two out in the first (12.7%).

Check back tonight at 8:40 PM as David Phelps takes the mound.